Andeew s



A. S. HALLIDIE.

ENDLESS TRACTION RAILWAY.

Patented Ju neZO, 1876.

Witnesses Mg Inventor (4%6456642/ UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrcrl.

ANDREW S. HALLIDIE, OF SAN FRANCISGO, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEMENT lN ENDLESS TRACTION RAILWAVS.

Specification formin'g part of Letters Patent N0. 179,016, dated Uune20, 11 76; application filed April 3, 1876.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ANDREW S. HALLIDIE, ofSan Francisco city and county, State of. California, have inventedImprovements in Street-Railroads; and I do hereby declare the followingdescription and accompanying drawings are sufficient to enable anyperson skilled in the art or science to which it most nearly appertainsto make and use my said invention or improvement withoutfurtherinvention' or experiment.

My invention relatesto that class of railroads in which the cars arepropelled along the tracks by means of an endless wire rope or cable,which is arranged to traverse in an underground tube or tunnel, the carbeing connected by a griping device which moves inside of the tube bymeans of a shank or other connection which passes through a slot in thetube. v

My improvements consist in certain details in the construction andarrangement. of the tracks, switches, and underground tubes, by which Iam able to operate the road with less expense, and with less trouble andannoyance, than heretofore.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a proper representation of myinvention, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my railway. Fig. 2 is anenlarged section of the switch. Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view.

Let A represent thestreet or road surface upon which the railroad isconstructed. B B represent two parallel lines of tracks upon which thecars are moved in opposite directions, and G O are the slotted tubes inwhich the propelling-cable travels, one of the tubes being placed midwaybetween the two rails of each track.

According to my plan of operating a railroad by the endless cablesystem, I employ a special car or dummy separate from the ordinary carsof the road for carrying the griping attachment, as described andclaimed in a separate application for a patent made by me. I also use agriping device, which is constructed with an L-shaped foot or lower endwhich moves inside of the tube, as described in the Letters Patent No.129,130, which were issued to me on the 16th day of July, A. D. 1872.The object of this L-shaped foot is to enable me to. support the rope inthe tube at one side of the slot, so as to permit the griper-jaws to Inemploying these devices in connection with the above-described system ofpropulsion,

I find it necessary to make certain improvements and additions in theconstruction and arrangement of the road, all of which are herein fullyexplained.

'At the terminus of the paralleltracks B B it is necessary to transferthe dummy or traction car from one track to the other, in order tofollow the travel of the rope, and enable the same tractioncar to haulcars'ihboth directions. Turn-tables have heretofore been used for'this'purpose, but they are expensive to build and keep in repair, andcause a great deal ofv trouble in transferring the cars. Instead ofemploying turn-tables as heretofore, I connect the two-parallel tubes 0O at some point at or near their terminus by a diagonal or branch tube,D, which has a slot, 6, corresponding with the slots in the tubes 0, andwhich connects with them at each end. This branch tube simply connectsthe tubes 0 C, while the propelling-rope passes, as usual, through thetubes 0 G, and its object is to provide a passage-way for the L- shapedgriper from one rope-carrying tube to the other when it is desired totransfer the dummy or traction car from one track to the other. Adiagonal track, G, is also constructed to connect the tracks B B, onerail being placed on each side of the slotted tube. If this connectingtube and trackbe placed at a point where the main tracks are inclined,the dummy or traction car will move automatically by gravity from onemain trackto the other, but where the ground is level the car can bevtransferred by handpower. In order to render this. method oftransferring the car convenient, and to obviate the necessity of turningthe dummy or griper, Iconstruct therope-carrying tubes 0 0 so that therope in both tubes will travel upon the same side of the slot throughwhich the griper-shank passes; or, in other Words, when I support therope on the right-hand side of the slot in one tube I also support it onthe right-hand side of the slot in the opposite tube, or if the oppositeor left-hand side is chosen, I mount the ropes so that their positionwith reference to the slots will correspond; otherwise the L-shaped footof the griper would stand in the wrong direction after the car has beentransferred. Therefore, in operating with this arrangement, after thecar has been uncoupled from the dummy, and the rope released from thegriping-jaws, the griper-foot is elex ated above the rope, and the carmoved along the diagonal track withits griper moving in the branch tubeuntil the car stands upon the opposite track, and the griper-foot isready to drop into position and seize the rope in the opposite tube,thus completely transferring the duinin y from one track to the otherwithout the use of tnrn=tables.

At the point where theslotin the ina'ih tube connects with the slot inthe branch tube, it is evident that an opening of objectionable sizewould be made by the n eeting of the two slots. Toobviate thisdifliculty, or, rather, objection, I employ a pivoted 'V-shapedswitchrail', L, at the meeting angle,- which is pressed by a spring, Z,so as to force its point against the side of the slot in the main tubeand across the end of the tube iii the brahch slot, thus closing the endof the branch slot, except from. pressure applied in one direction,while it leaves the slot iii the main tube unobstructed. ,These iniproi'einents are quite iniportaut in the working econoihy of this systein ofpropulsion. They enable hie to transferthe traction-dummy withoutvexatious (16f lays, a nd withoi t, ,hijucli labor, whereas theturn-tables heretoi'ore used required several minutes loss of time intransferringthe dummy, while the operation wasvery laborious.

, Having thus described my invention, what' I claiin, and desire tosecure 5y Letters Patent, is-

1. As an improved device for transferring cars which are propelled by anendless rope noving'in an underground tubefrom one track to anothemandin which the rope and car are connected by a griping device, which ispermanently attached to the car, the diagonal or angular tube'D arrangedto connect the ropecontaining tubes B B, said diagonal tube hav ing'alongitudinal slot, awliich is arranged to connect with the loiigitudihalslots of the tubes B B, all combined and arranged to opand for thepurpose de- Witnesses GEo. H. S'rit'ouG,

JNO; L. BOONE.

L aiid springZ,

